Jordan Walker is again within the massive leagues. The Cardinals on Monday introduced that they’ve recalled the previous prime prospect from Triple-A Memphis and positioned Matt Carpenter on the 10-day injured listing with a decrease again pressure. Carpenter’s IL placement is retroactive to Aug. 9.
Walker made his big-league debut as a 20-year-old in 2023 and did so to appreciable fanfare. The 2020 first-rounder entered final season ranked as a consensus top-five prospect in the complete sport, due largely to the efficiency of his bat. He pounded eight extra-base hits (three homers, 5 doubles) in 67 spring plate appearances and landed on the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster as their beginning proper fielder.
The educational curve for Walker proved pretty steep as he tried to skip Triple-A completely. He started his profession on a 12-game hitting streak however quickly fell right into a hunch on the plate. On condition that he was already struggling to adapt to a shift to the outfield — his pure place, third base, is in fact spoken for in St. Louis — the Playing cards optioned him close to the tip of April. He was despatched down with a roughly common .274/.321/.397 batting line on the time.
Walker returned in June and regarded like a brand new hitter. From June 2 by way of season’s finish, he successfully maintained the identical batting common however did so with a notable bump in OBP and significantly extra energy. Over his closing 387 plate appearances, he hit .277/.346/.455 with 14 homers, 16 doubles, a pair of triples, an improved 8.8% stroll fee and a 21.7% strikeout fee that sat decrease than league common. For a participant with minimal Triple-A expertise who turned 21 in Could, it was a extremely encouraging end to his rookie marketing campaign.
Coming into the present season, Walker had a lineup spot locked up. Nonetheless, his 2024 marketing campaign began out with a protracted swoon on the plate that noticed him hit simply .155/.239/.259 in 67 plate appearances earlier than being optioned again to Memphis. He’s been there since, due primarily to the truth that his struggles have persevered since being despatched again down. By his first 252 plate appearances again in Memphis, Walker managed solely a .234/.300/.357 batting line. His 8.3% stroll fee and 19.1% strikeout fee have been each strong, if unspectacular marks, however he’s had the identical grounder-heavy strategy that he’s proven within the main leagues. For a participant with above-average however not elite pace — particularly one whose calling card is 70- or 80-grade uncooked energy — hitting almost half your batted balls on the bottom is a sub-optimal end result.
Over the previous few weeks, the now-22-year-old Walker has begun to show issues round in Memphis. He’s belted 5 homers and tallied a dozen extra-base hits over his previous 16 video games. It’s solely a pattern of 67 plate appearances, however Walker has sizzled with a .343/.400/.687 slash in that point — far and away his greatest stretch of the season at any degree.
The Cardinals shall be hoping to see extra of that degree of output from Walker as they push to get again into Wild Card place. Although St. Louis has spent a great portion of the summer time in possession of a Wild Card spot within the Nationwide League, it has dropped a recreation and a half behind the Braves, who presently maintain the third spot. The Mets are a recreation forward of the Cardinals and are additionally vying for the ultimate spot.
St. Louis has struggled in opposition to left-handed pitching all through the season, presently rating as one of many worst lineups in baseball versus southpaws. Its mixed .233/.296/.359 slash in opposition to lefties interprets to an 85 wRC+ (suggesting they’re 15% worse than league-average on the plate). Walker will give it one other right-handed bat to assist assault opposing lefties, nevertheless it’s price stating that he’s struggled tremendously in opposition to lefties each within the majors final 12 months and in Triple-A this season. Walker batted .231/.294/.389 in opposition to southpaws in 2023 and has a mixed .234/.304/.378 slash in opposition to them between Memphis and St. Louis this season.
